Sony Is Beginning Development On A Sequel To The Critically-Acclaimed Thriller 'Searching'

At the age of only 25, Aneesh Chaganty decided to quit his job and direct his first feature film. Using unusual filming techniques and state-of-the-art technology, Chaganty’s debut film went on to be one of the biggest films coming out of Sundance and one of the best films of 2018. That film is “Searching,” and it would appear that the shocking success of Chaganty’s film has led Sony on a mission to figure out how to turn it into a franchise.

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According to Deadline, Sony’s Stage 6 Films is currently figuring out how to launch a sequel to the missing person film from last year. The studio is expected to approach Aneesh Chaganty, as well as “Searching” producers, which included the film’s co-writer Sev Ohanian, Timur Bekmambetov, Adam Sidman, and Natalie Qasabian, about the story for the new film. While a plot isn’t known, it’s expected that the sequel has an entirely new cast and won’t continue the story that was first featured in “Searching,” which starred John Cho and Debra Messing.

For those that didn’t see the film, “Searching” told the story of a single dad that was on the hunt for his missing daughter, who disappeared from her school with no warning and with no trace. What made “Searching” so unique is that Chaganty utilized a new filmmaking technology called ScreenLife to create a film that only used various device screens as the audience’s POV. This gimmick has been utilized in films like “Unfriended” and its sequel, but “Searching” used it in a way that added to the tension of the story and seamlessly allowed for the filmmaker to craft an incredible mystery.

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Obviously, with the ScreenLife technology being relatively inexpensive, and “Searching” proving that a small cast of quality actors and a good plot can be hugely profitable (the film earned over $75 million worldwide), Sony would be silly not to at least develop a new film to see if the studio can turn the film into a new franchise.